Guitarist Francesco Artusato Joins All Shall Perish

Virtuoso guitarist Francesco Artusato is releasing his 10-track solo album, 'Chaos and the Primordial,' on which he played all the instruments and arranged all of the songs. The Italian-born axe-slinger explores the rock/metal language through his strings and has recently joined All Shall Perish. Before even heading to the storied Berklee College of Music, Artusato played the sax, which has some parallels to guitar playing.

"I played saxophone for almost four years. I started when I was 12, because I felt the need of expressing myself in a musical way," Artusato told Noisecreep. "I grew up with music around me, and I guess it was a natural consequence for me to start playing an instrument. I don't think I was very good at it, but it surely gave me the basics to use as foundation to grow musically. And of course I started to get familiar with musical theory. It was interesting to see later on that saxophone players and their specific sense of phrase somehow influenced a lot of my favorite guitar players."

When he finally and fatefully picked up a guitar, he found himself comparing the two instruments, seeking a possible connection between the two. He said, "I was playing on guitar a lot the stuff I was before playing on the saxophone. It's always challenging to play on one instrument something that was meant to be played on another one ... the same reason why I transcribed a lot of piano and violin/viola/cello music and sometimes even rhythmic patterns for drummers. I also had the chance to take piano and drum lessons at Berklee College of Music. All knowledge that gives you a wider musical view and understanding, but in the end, guitar is the instrument for me ... it's what has become as natural as speaking."

He hooked up with All Shall Perish through mutual connections, and the band asked Artusato to do a video audition of some of their most challenging material. "I submitted the video audition for the band to review it," he said. "24 hours later, I got the call back from the band. They flew me out to Oakland a couple of days later so that we could all meet and do a live audition. We all got along great personally and musically, so they offered me to do these upcoming tours. I'm really excited to be working with such a respectable band, and I hope this is just the beginning of what could become a long collaboration."